Trade-off relations between quantum coherence and measure of many-body localization

Quantum coherence, a fundamental resource in quantum computing and quantum information, often competes with localization effects that affect quantum states in disordered systems. In this work, we prove exact trade-off relations between quantum coherence and a measure of localization and many-body localization, namely, the inverse participation ratio (IPR). We prove that for a pure quantum state, the ${l}₁$ norm of quantum coherence and the relative entropy of coherence satisfy complementarity relations with IPR. For a mixed state, IPR and the ${l}₂$ norm of quantum coherence as well as relative entropy of coherence satisfy trade-off inequalities. We further explore the applicability of these general relations between quantum coherence and measure of localization in the context of delocalization to many-body localization transition in a disordered interacting quantum many-body system and demonstrate that quantum coherence is also an ideal characterization of the delocalization to many-body localization transition. Our numerical analysis shows that though the full system loses coherence in the many-body localization phase, coherence of a subsystem can increase with the combined effect of disorder and interactions. We believe that these trade-off relations can help in better understanding of how coherence can be preserved or lost in realistic many-body quantum systems, which is vital for developing robust quantum technologies and uncovering new phases of quantum matter.